Twice the space, more than a hundred cars and a peek at a surprising new historical display space

The All-New Toyota Museum from Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car

For a decade, it was this unofficial, open secret: a red-headed stepchild of the family. Under-funded and overstuffed with things that would have otherwise been discarded, the original Toyota USA Museum in Torrance, California, had long since grown out its space on Artesia Boulevard. It had hosted scores of local car-club meetings, Boy Scout troop meetings, and other celebrations--but, somehow, was never really known by the general public.

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But Toyota pulled out all the stops when launching its all-new museum. Its recent prominence came about through a bout of cost-cutting: Rather than have all of the vintage race cars in one building and the museum in another, Toyota sought to consolidate space and found a facility big enough to double the old museum's floor space, plus have additional room for a 400-person meeting room (people used to be threaded in between the cars in the old place). And with real estate prices in the dump, it must have been a relative steal. (Finally, something good that we can put at the feet of the recession.)
Here's the hilarious thing about entering the new museum space: While it's far airier than the windowless warehouse they abandoned, they seem to have filled it just as tightly with Toyota's 50-odd-year history of cars and trucks. The former chronological arrangement has been rearranged to suit pockets of interest: a cluster of trucks, starting with the earliest Land Cruisers and moving into the latest Tacomas and FJ Cruisers forms on one side, while the racing and performance machines are stacked three high (!) on the back wall. Celicas, Supras and MR2s are grouped together. A row of convertibles celebrates the sun, and Toyota milestones, like the first NUMMI-built Toyota in Fremont, California (a white Toyota FX16), and the 10 millionth Toyota built in America (a maroon 2002 Camry) are clustered together. Lexus has its own row.
A variety of green-themed machines were available for perusal, to give you a sense of the breadth and depth of Toyota's alt-tech commitment. Similarly, some late-model concepts and even full-size clay mockups are on display, to give a sense of the design process. This makes more sense than you'd think, since Toyota has maintained a design studio in the L.A. area (CALTY) since the early '70s.
The day we were there, three Toyota 2000GTs appeared together (plus the engine of a fourth, on a stand). We also saw three Toyota Stout pickups, which is three more than we'd ever seen outside of a Japan-only car show. But a full range of Toyota's sedans, from the earliest unloved Crowns through Tiaras, Coronas, Corollas and so on through the range, gives you a sense of not only the automobile's evolution, but what has become Toyota's own strength: listening to what the consumer wants, making it, improving upon it, and then launching a new car that fulfills all of those expectations. And every time we go, we see cars there that we'd not seen before: The 1982 Starlet was new to us, as were a couple of '70s/'80s-vintage Corollas. All will be refurbished back to as-new condition in due time.
The museum remains closed to walk-in traffic, but tours are available, as are facilities for larger groups and parties. To schedule a tour, contact curator Susan Sanborn at susan_sanborn@toyota.com.

This article originally appeared in the February, 2011 issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car.